Ask HN: How should new programmers learn in the AI era?

My younger brother just started learning programming. When I was learning, I spent weeks building small demos and exercises — calculators, todo apps, little games — but now, most of those can be built in seconds with AI assistants.

I’m wondering: should new programmers still learn the same way we did — building everything by hand — or are there better ways to learn with AI tools around?

Have you seen examples of new developers who learned effectively with AI assistance? How did they structure their learning or projects?

I’d love to hear what worked for you, your students, or junior colleagues today.

If you wanted to become a painter, would you use generative AI to make you a painting and then call yourself an artist? I wouldn't. Downloading mp3 files doesn't make anyone a musician.

That said, I don't see any problem with using AI to grasp ideas faster[1]. AI can help you create a personalized roadmap and resolve confusion along the way. But if one doesn't go hands-on and understand what the AI is doing, and only consumes the output, there is no learning in that.

[1] By 'faster,' I mean getting a response quickly (requires fact-checking, ofc) instead of spending hours on Stack Overflow.

AI is simply the latest tool. There was time when a similar question was whether to learn assembly language because we now had compilers (C, Pascal, FORTRAN etc). That question glossed over the value of understanding the foundations. When things don't work as expected, debugging requires deeper knowledge.

AI is a fantastic research assistant and even a tutor. But you still have to ask "good questions" and remain sceptical, both of which in turn requires foundational knowledge.

AI is the best teacher, short of a 1:1 with an actual human teacher. You can literally learn almost anything, and it's at the very least a starting point, and then you ask it for the best books to continue with.

For people that like learning on their own, it opens up all doors. With that in mind, as you're learning build everything by hand. Copy the code by typing it, not copy/pasting. Make sure you understand each line and can change things as you go while still having it compile and work.

Start with actual projects, first small projects, then larger and larger. Each project should be something you can show someone else, if not upload and share online. Once you have a few projects, the path forward reveals itself and you'll know which books to read and what to tackle next.

Honestly, for learning programming, university is no longer needed. It's at best a place to network and meet potential employers, but even that is not necessary and there are ways to network online.

Use AI to speed up the boring parts, but make sure you understand what’s happening behind the scenes. The best programmers in the AI era aren’t the fastest coders - they’re the ones who can debug, reason, and connect systems creatively.